The "Land of the Brave" but was completely belied by our response to the 9/11/2001 terrorist attacks. We cried and lashes out at random thing until we hurt ourselves over and over.
Brave would have been standing strong and not trying to genocide the middle East writ large. Instead we did the PATRIOT act maneuver and removed our civil liberties before flushing our world leadership position down the toilet out of fear.
Wow. That is all it takes for you people to lose your balls?
Let me tell you about Wilhelm Blumberg. An ordinary citizen of Berlin, Germany, in 1934. When the OFFICIAL GERMAN GOVERNMENT (ruled by the NSDAP) put up swastika flags around his streets, Wilhelm got angry and tore them down. He was stopped by police who wanted to know what the fuck he thinks he's doing. He answered: "What kind of bitch rag (Fotzenlappen) is this??? Let me shit on it real quick!". He was apprehended.
Here is someone who stood up to literal Nazis. He is remembered. You however, will be forgotten. You seek safety in numbers, hoping the next impotent protest march will shield you from repercussions. You will be the first to run away when the tear gas rains down. Scampering back home and start scrolling X or tiktok or youtube or whatever baubles your rulers let you have for entertainment after a long hard day of doing nothing.
Everyone in the US, including myself, are guilty. In fact this post is mostly directed at myself. Each day where we are not shot or at least imprisoned is another day we have failed. Because it was another day of inactivity, of cowardice, of complicity. Another day where we valued our own fleeting life over liberty and justice for humanity or at least this country. That Tufts girl is disappeared because no one else did anything. You chose this. And let's be real, you will continue to choose this.
There was one common line of defense for all defendants during the Nuremberg trials: "We only followed rules and orders". "We didn't know it was this bad". "What was I supposed to do against this machine?". Most of them got hanged. Most of us here should as well.
Thanks purpleskull, now I know that when I'm being mugged at gunpoint it's better to be remembered than to be alive. Sure, there may have been an opportunity to make a difference at some point if you were still alive, but dammit you made a symbolic gesture and one day there will be an angry tough guy using you as an example for other people to follow.
Where is the general strike? Do you mean https://generalstrikeus.com/ or is there another? If this then golly we need to start picketing on street corners. Sign-ups have slooooowed.
I believe ADX Florence counts as "itty bitty living space", I vote we skip to that part. Stuff Elon in with him as a substitute for Iago and we're golden.
Protesting against a government with ample amounts of 5th generation multi-role fighter aircraft, drones with Hellfire missiles, and plenty of rubes who are giddy at the prospect of shooting the populace they'd supposedly sworn to protect is a fool's errand.
Forgot to include the rubes in GenPop that have sworn no such thing and are equally as (or more) giddy at the prospect of shooting those "neighbors" they have deemed deserving of being shot.
They’re not covered in the states either. Most of us know not to bring phones to protests, so the crowd videos are pretty limited, but you can find some on TikTok and Instagram. The next big one is on April 5th. Keep an eye out on social media for posts.
Over on Reddit today I got the coveted "[Removed by Reddit]" award for a comment where I merely predicted that this would end in violence. This is the Fediverse and I can be a bit freer in saying that at this point that's probably the better option for America, to make it absolutely clear what "side" the general public is on.
I doubt that America will choose the better option, though. Cowards.
It's bitterly ironic that the only people who have taken literal shots at Trump so far were themselves crazed Republican nutballs, his own base. I give America no bonus points for those attempts.
MAGAs will be there too, because they are beginning to realize they are being royally shit on. In fact, expect them to lead the charge, violently - not all of them, but probably the majority of them.
Historically if peaceful protests are ignored long enough, the protests cease to be peaceful. That almost always backfires against the protestors because it's so easy for the media to turn public opinion against them. The average citizen isn't willing to sacrifice their peace and security unless there is an immediate tangible benefit to them.
We need a new tactic. Something the powers that be don't have an answer for already. I'm from Chicago and during the pandemic there was a phenomenon called flash mobs that the police struggled to address. Large groups of people would arrange online a time and location, commit crime, and flee before authorities could react. Sometimes they would show up, beat up and rob whoever was on the street, and disappear onto public transportation. Other times they would hit high value corporate targets like the Gucci or Prada stores. Dozens of people would rush in, seal everything not nailed down, and escape.
I have to wonder hypothetically what would happen if this tactic was applied to banks. The money is insured by the government, so the public wouldn't be losing anything. But the public HATES the banks and wouldn't offer them sympathy. It would be even better if some of the stolen money was redistributed to the needy. Just wishful thinking on my part.
That movement really started in 2014 with the killing of Michael Brown, but your point stands. Still, I can't call that too much of a victory since the point of the protests was to stop violent racially biased policing, and all we got were cameras. Better than nothing I suppose.